This invention relates generally to the holding and fastening of electrical components to a printed circuit board. In particular, this invention relates to method and apparatus for mounting a fuse on to a printed circuit board.
Various socket devices have been heretofore used to hold electrical fuses that need to be removed and replaced from time to time on a printed circuit board. The amount of space which these sockets can occupy on the printed circuit board has increasingly become more and more limited. This has led to the development of small socket or holding devices that do not occupy much space on the circuit board. These small holding devices located on crowded printed circuit boards do not however allow the fuse to be easily grasped when the component is to be removed and replaced. These small holding devices may also not provide much structure for securely holding the fuse in place. These small holding devices furthermore have very limited structure for mounting the holding device to the crowded printed circuit board. This mounting structure must not only secure the holding device to the printed circuit board but also must withstand the forces normally associated with removing and replacing the fuse.